Parjatan Corporation liquor store faces losses in millions
Parjatan Corporation one year ago established a liquor sales outlet for foreign diplomats at Mohakhali in the capital, without any proper planning.
However, there was no survey before opening the liquor store, and no one was consulted in this regard.
Even the foreign diplomats hadn't sought any such facilities from the government. Since it opened last year, not single taka worth of liquor has been sold.
Facing these losses, the Parjatan Corporation now itself wants to cancel its bonded warehouse licence.
The civil aviation and tourism ministry wrote to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) in the first week of June, asking for the licence to be cancelled.
NBR is now scrutinising the application. Parjatan Corporation's director (administration), AKM Tarek, has said they haven't received any letter cancelling the licence as yet.
Diplomats wanted to buy other duty-free goods along with liquor all under one roof. But Parjatan could not offer that and so the foreign diplomats were not keen on going there
From the tourism ministry letter, it is understood that NBR has issued the bonded warehouse licence on 25 May 2022 so that diplomats could be provided with duty-free purchasing facilities.
On 25 May the next year, a liquor display and sales centre was opened up on the ground flood of Parjatan Corporation's Hotel Abakash in Mohakhali. According to the regulations, a foreign diplomat can use his or her card to purchase goods duty-free.
Officials of the corporation say that no diplomat has visited the premise to purchase liquor over the past year ever since the store was opened. Explaining the reason why the diplomats did not go there to buy liquor, the letter to NBR stated that the diplomats wanted to buy other duty-free goods along with liquor all under one roof.
But Parjatan could not offer that and so the foreign diplomats were not keen on going there. As a result Parjatan Corporation is counting losses. They do not have the capacity to keep the sales centre open under the steady losses.
Officials of the corporation say that the corporation runs on its own income. They cannot afford to run the liquor store at the cost of Tk 10 million in losses annually
An official of the Parjatan Corporation, on condition of anonymity, said that he had not seen any documents or files indicating that there was any survey before deciding to open the liquor outlet, and no one had been consulted either. He said, the liquor store at Mohakhali had been opened on a whim. He said, the location is hardly ideal for a liquor store. It cannot be accepted that not even a taka of liquor was sold in one year.
Meanwhile, the corporation sent e-mails to the foreign diplomatic missions so that they visit the liquor outlet. They were sent separate messages too. The foreign ministry was requested in this regard. But all these steps were taken only after the liquor store was opened. No one approached before.
According to the corporation, not a single taka was earned from the liquor store over the past one year, but they had to pay Tk 700,000 for licence renewal. Again, Hotel Abakash used to have a bakery and pastry shop which generated a monthly income of Tk 700,000, that is, Tk 8.4 million a year. But the bakery and pastry shop was shut down when the liquor store was opened. The corporation is facing Tk 9.1 million in losses a year because of that.
Officials of the corporation say that the corporation runs on its own income. They cannot afford to run the liquor store at the cost of Tk 10 million in losses annually. That is why an application has been submitted to NBR to cancel the bonded warehouse licence for liquor.
Parjatan Corporation records show it has 51 hotels and motels, bars and restaurants all over the country. Of these, the corporation runs 35 units while 16 have been leased out. A report of the civil aviation and tourism ministry reveals that most of the units are failing to reach the targetted revenue. The corporation has been swamped in losses since 2018-19. Till last financial year (2022-23), the corporations has been facing losses of Tk 100 million on average.
Parjatan Corporations general manager (DFO) Shawkat Osman, speaking to Prothom Alo, said that foreign diplomats didn't want to visit their liquor outlet in Mohakhali just to buy liquor. They want to get all sorts of commodities as in a super shop. But the corporations does not have the capacity to run a warehouse of that size.